Trooper from Deeghan case assigned to new task force

Dec. 10, 2012

Vermont State Police Lt. Marc Thomas

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Free Press Staff Writer

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Vermont State Police Lt. Marc D. Thomas, who was removed as station commander at the Williston barracks following a time sheet padding investigation by one of his senior patrol commanders, is now assigned to the Vermont Violent Offender Task Force run by the U.S. Marshals Service in Burlington.

The new task force was created effective Oct. 1 by combining two enforcement groups operated by the Marshals Service: its fugitive task force and its sex offender tracking team. The new task force is charged with finding some of the most sought-after and violent offenders wanted by local, state and federal authorities in Vermont. They also seek wanted out-of-state fugitives that come to Vermont to hide out.

Col. Tom L’Esperance, the state police director, selected Thomas for the assignment after the Marshals Service asked the state to consider assigning a liaison to the new task force, Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal William Gerke Jr. said.

“We pitched it to the colonel,” Gerke said about getting a state trooper to work on the task force. Thomas, who was picked from among 330 state troopers, has been sworn in as a special deputy U.S. Marshal. There is no known time limit on the Thomas’ appointment by state police to the task force, Gerke said.

Gerke said there are about 40 to 50 cases of wanted felons split among Thomas and a dozen deputy U.S. Marshals in Vermont. A University of Vermont police officer also is assigned to the task force when school is not in session.

Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn, who has promised transparency by his state police division about the time sheet case, said Friday he is still waiting for completion of a state police internal review of the operations of the Williston barracks and the performance of Thomas.

Flynn referred other questions on Friday to L’Esperance, who punted to department spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro, who was unable to provide any information.

Thomas, 44, was the immediate supervisor of former Sgt. Jim Deeghan, who pleaded not guilty on July 13 to two felony charges of false claims dealing with his time sheets in June. State police never announced the removal of Thomas as station commander, but confirmed it when the Burlington Free Press asked about his status in late August.

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Deeghan, 49, of Colchester resigned on July 10 amid allegations of time sheet falsifications. Three days later Deeghan pleaded not guilty to two felony charges of false claims concerning two pay sheets he submitted in June.

State police, in court papers, say further investigation has since shown Deeghan, a 22-year veteran, defrauded taxpayers out of $139,332 from Dec. 21, 2008 and July 14, 2012 by filing false time sheets involving overtime, annual leave and for a special patrol contract in Jericho.

If convicted, Deeghan, the son of an FBI agent, faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. L’Esperance and State’s Attorney T. J. Donovan are among the officials that have pledged the state will obtain full restitution and also try to reduce Deeghan’s listed annual salary for the final two years so that his pension, which he can collect in March, will reflect actual hours work.

Officials said earlier this summer thatDeeghan is the only known state police officer to have padded his time sheet before his arrest. Investigators, who were ordered to go back six years, have said early investigation showed Deeghan filed two time sheets every two weeks, but they did not match. One went to state police and one went to human resources, they said.

Thomas, as Deeghan’s immediate supervisor, was expected to approve the time sheets. The signatures of Deeghan and Thomas are on the time sheets below a line that says in part that they “certify under the pains & penalties of perjury that the above information is reported accurately to the best of our knowledge.”

State police said they also have found that since sometime in 2000 Deeghan wrote 973 bogus traffic tickets in an effort to support the unworked overtime that he was falsely claiming.

Flynn, who took over as commissioner in 2011, has said it was unclear how the alleged fraud with the tickets could have gone undetected since at least 2000, but has promised to implement a checks and balance system that works and improved time sheet reviews. .

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Thomas served as station commander at the Williston barracks, which oversees coverage in Chittenden and Lamoille Counties, from May 23, 2010 until Aug. 26, 2012 when the time sheet scandal was unraveling.

At least two other lieutenants had served as station commander at Williston during that bogus time sheet period, the department has said.

Thomas was initially transferred in August to the field force division at headquarters in Waterbury with unspecified duties as assigned.

Gerke said he helps oversee Thomas during his daily work at the violent offender task force, but he is supervised in his department by State Police Major Edward Ledo, head of the criminal division. Thomas continues to be paid by the state, but Gerke said there is some overtime available and there are some federal funds to cover pre-approved overtime.

Thomas is a former Lamoille County deputy sheriff and Morristown police officer. He joined state police in February 1994 and began work at the Middlesex barracks, where he remained until promoted to sergeant and was assigned to the Lamoille County outpost in 2003. Four years later he transferred to the Middlesex barracks as a patrol commander. He arrived in Williston in May 2010.